The Name of the Game
by HeartOfAKid
Summary: It made Bill Cipher laugh. Only a few, specially-chosen people knew about the journals, yet all of them were as naïve as each other, believing that only three journals existed. And whilst they pathetically squabbled amongst themselves about who was the rightful owner of each journal, Bill Cipher was about to bring into play the most powerful journal of them all...


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gravity Falls**

**EXTENDED SUMMARY: It made Bill Cipher laugh. Only a few, specially-chosen people knew about the journals, yet all of them were as naïve as each other, believing that only three journals existed. And whilst they pathetically squabbled amongst themselves about who was the rightful owner of each journal, Bill Cipher was about to bring into play the most powerful journal of them all- journal number four. Journal number four with its potential to cripple Gravity Falls and lead to the end of human life, unbeknownst to everyone but Bill Cipher. Naturally, that was his intention.**

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Clutching the leather-bound book close to his triangular body, he watched the Speedy Beaver bus slow down and observed as two young brunettes clambered out with their belongings. Gleefully smirking, Bill Cipher was reminded of how accurate his future predictions were, and how perfectly his well-thought out plan was coming together. Of course, he wouldn't be able to pull this entire game off without the help from a few Gravity Falls residents.

A mind demon hailing from a demonic dimension, Bill Cipher's powers were vast and powerful. Albeit, his existence was only certain in his dimension, and he was unable to exist fully in this dimension. And even though he could play a small part in the life of Gravity Falls, setting up small traps and games around the town, he was still unable to break free of the chains which kept him from wrecking chaos. Which was why he needed a few puppets to help him with his ultimate plan. And a new one had just arrived.

Since the beginning of time, he had been predicting the future and observing the events which it entailed. Although he watched them closely, he never interfered with anything that happened until it was time for him to secure his future timeline. Today was another significant day on his future timeline. Today was the day the Pines twins were to arrive in Gravity Falls, and here they were in the flesh. Bill Cipher was not a modest being and hailed himself as an almighty wonder, but felt this would be fraudulent if he did not fulfil his alleged duties by keeping a close eye on the people of Gravity Falls, including new arrivals. But the Pines twins weren't ordinary new arrivals. No, they were different. Bill Cipher would even go as far to say they were special in a way.

There is no such thing as fate, and no such thing as destiny. Both of these terms were simply conjurations of the mind to comfort an individual and shield them from the truth. The truth being that the future is never certain, never permanent, and that for each future timeline that existed, there were a million alternate scenarios which could occur. Some of these were more likely than others, approximately ten scenarios from each timeline being the ones most likely to succeed, but even the smallest of individual actions could drastically change the future. And this was it, the horrifying truth. The horrifying truth that your future is never secure so neither is the safety of your existence. But this was where the Pines twins became important people to Bill Cipher: whereas everybody in Gravity Falls had a leading role in at least one of the many future scenarios on his timeline, the Pines twins were different in the fact that they had leading roles on every single one of them. Not one scenario did not include the Pines twins. Dipper Pines was particularly an important person on Bill Cipher's future timeline.

A curious and intelligent kid, since the moment Bill Cipher predicted his existence and foresaw his coming to the town, he was the only candidate who would bring journal number three into play. Journal number three was the book of monsters, the book which detailed their existence and the very fact that they lurked deep within the depths of Gravity Falls. Dipper Pines was a born adventurer, and being easily intrigued by crime and adventure novels, he would no doubt go chasing after the monsters written about in journal number three and contribute more knowledge to the journal. This was the reason why Bill Cipher had held onto the journal and waited for Dipper's arrival. Like Gideon and the other journal holders, he had been chosen by Bill Cipher.

Gideon Gleeful: manipulative and vengeful who seeks power over those who anger or challenge him in any way, shape, or form. Prime candidate and current owner of journal number two, which contains information on objects which cause mayhem and how to summon creatures which bring havoc on his enemies, all whilst keeping his innocent disposition around the town intact.

Stanford Pines- well. Bill Cipher dropped journal number four, allowing it to tumble down and float around in the black oblivion he was in. He pressed his spindly black hands together as he projected past events in front of his eye. Stanford Pines was the exception to the rule of being a chosen journal holder. The images projected in front of him reminded Bill Cipher of the original plan. The original plan being that Old Man McGucket was supposed to find the first journal. Journal number one contained details of the past, present, and future of the Gravity Falls timeline and the information was enough to drive a sane man crazy. After all, who would want to read details about your own, painful death? Bill Cipher chuckled to himself as he remembered the predicted scenarios of each person in Gravity Falls who were driven insane in the unlikely event that they had found that journal. But Old Man McGucket had been the odd one out in the crazy rule, for he was already crazy. Upon finding that journal, fear would have been inflicted into his heart as well as a kind sense to notify people of what the future entailed for them. Of course, nobody would listen to the crazy old gook and a "told you so" moment would occur. Journal number one originally had no purpose in Bill Cipher's game, except as comic relief. That changed when Stanford Pines found the journal instead.

Bill Cipher may have been one heck of an intelligent demon, but he wasn't all-knowing and nor was he fully in control of who discovered the journals. He could predict the likelihood of each scenario, carefully observe each possible place where his desired person was the most likely to find the journal and work from there, but sometimes predictions were slightly off. This was a rare occurrence, but it did occur and was the reason why Stanford Pines found the first journal. Initially, Bill Cipher had wanted to kill Stanford Pines, but he was powerless in this dimension unless he could find a way to break free of his bound chains. However, upon seeing the shift in future scenarios and realising his chances of his plan succeeding where higher with Stanford Pines in possession of the first journal, Bill Cipher had simply grinned and altered his plan. Either way, the balance of the universe was still in his favour.

For his plan to work, Bill Cipher needed puppets. These puppets couldn't just be anybody, but they had to be carefully selected from a small pool of people. Bill Cipher was an intelligent, genius of a demon, but he wasn't all-knowing. He had done a fine job alone of gathering the basics of information on Gravity Falls, but he needed the help of some residents to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. Of course, nobody would be willing to help a demon, especially if they knew his ulterior motives. Which was where the journals and the puppets came in. All of the information he had gathered was placed in these magical journals, with space left to spare for extra annotations. Each puppet required for the plan would have one of the journals and would continue to work on the journals peacefully for a while without shifting the balance of the universe. Gravity Falls was at the heart of this dimension and if Bill Cipher was able to discover all of the secrets within, he held the key to conquering the rest of this dimension. Three of the journals were already in play, and two of the puppets already out working. For a happy, brief while, these three puppets would work on their journals, unaware of the fourth one. They would continue to squabble, continue to fight, and continue to work, right up until the time was nigh for the fourth journal to come into play. The final puzzle piece in his game, and the final puppet who had already been chosen.

And as Dipper Pine's rapped his knuckles against the bark of the hollowed-out tree, before prising it open to discover the third journal which had been conveniently placed there for him, Bill Cipher watched in earnest. The game had yet to begin, yet Bill Cipher was already winning.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: First up, if you see any glaring spelling or grammar errors, please point them out to me so I can correct them! I proof-read all of my work, but occasionally I miss a few errors! Second up, big thanks to my best friend Michael for thinking up of an awesome title for my new story! All of my potential title ideas were truly awful. And finally, please leave a review and tell me what you thought and how I can improve my writing for the future!**


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